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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. clip — for paper
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. ground — a position
  6. mark — a grade
  7. degree — from a university
  8. bat — the animal
  9. wound — an injury
  10. degree — an amount
  11. clip — to cut
  12. ground — crushed
  13. capital — money
  14. clip — a video
  15. spring — of water
  16. spring — the season
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. degree — temperature
  19. spring — a coil
  20. capital — a city
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. ground — the earth
  23. wound — an injury
  24. mark — to pay attention

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com